


Lento

by duvent



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 03:38:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4904158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duvent/pseuds/duvent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kasamatsu joins Kise on his first international flight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lento

“Shut up, already.”

These words waste away, since Kise continues to jabber, and Kasamatsu wonders how you can get exhausted just from listening to a person. They’re seated in the middle section on a plane bound for Kise’s first international runway gig - fashion week. On his standby screen, a green line stretches from one big city to another, the wide arch keeping their whereabouts as they inch to their destination.

The movement seems slow to Kasamatsu, and he thinks how smooth flying is - this poised motion of leaping over many different time zones and the lives they controlled.

The two share a pair of headphones, pressing their ears to the bud because of the aircraft noise. An action movie is playing on the tiny screen in front of Kasamatsu, and although he finds the story boring, he retains a mild interest in the slick fighting choreography.

He looks at the other passengers. There’s an older lady knitting, and a salaryman sitting stiffly with his arms crossed, head falling and snapping back up at regular intervals. The tight space amplifies even the slightest rustle, and an old man snoring makes Kasamatsu remember dragons whom he dared protagonists to wake in children’s books. He feels Kise drifting off, heavy head on his shoulder, energy all spent from his excited steps at the airport. He had been darting from one wrong gate to the next, with Kasamatsu right on his heels, neither with any better idea of where they were going.

Now, Kise’s head falls to Kasamatsu’s lap, one leg curled up on the free seat beside him. He has the other stretched out, against the bar that limits carry-on items from intruding on the legroom of the person in front of him. The last seat on the end is taken by someone dutifully making their way through a novel under the reading light, shivering a bit in their thin sweater.

Kasamatsu pauses the movie and removes the headphones from their ears. Pulling his jacket down from his headrest and placing it over Kise, he puts one arm over his boyfriend. He thinks back to when Kise received the call notifying him that he had booked overseas. Kise was at Kasamatsu’s place, and was walking up and down the length of his room, not so much practicing as letting all his nerves out.

“What if you trip?” Kasamatsu had teased.

“I’m pretty confident in my walk.”

“Right...”

“Come with me? It’ll be fun.”  

Kise’s ticket was covered by his agency, so all they had to do was split the cost of Kasamatsu’s. And that’s how he ended up on this flight - with a simple yes, with a simple excuse to himself that he doesn’t have any plans for the break, and with a simple thought that maybe - maybe it’ll be fun.

A flight attendant is making the beverage service round, impassive eyes sweeping over the majority of the sleeping passengers. Some heads rest against lowered window shades, others against headrests, unaffected by the few of their neighbours blowing on hot cups of coffee or tea. When the flight attendant makes it to their section, Kasamatsu asks for some water. As he takes a sip, some turbulence knocks the plastic cup against his teeth. He coughs, and a little splashes on Kise. He uses the square napkin stuffed in the front pouch packed with airline magazines and safety manuals and wipes Kise’s forehead, and the hair that covers it, dry. Kise doesn’t notice. Like his slumbering counterparts, he is impervious to those who move and inhabit the still awake world.

Glancing at the small window across the aisle, Kasamatsu sees darkness that betrays nothing of where they are or of where they are going. It reminds him of their first night together. It was a dark night, quiet and tinged with a pronounced wonder. They were both jumpy and nervous as hell. _Stop laughing_ , Kasamatsu had said, though he was laughing too. _I’m totally serious_ , Kise mustered, unable to prevent more laughter from rising. When they calmed down, they had brought their embarrassed smiles to each other, shooing their pesky butterflies away with a long kiss.

His feet are falling asleep too, and he knows he should get some rest. He closes his eyes, thumb tracing the lines on Kise’s palm. The thoughts darting around his head slow down. In fact, everything slows: the steps of the flight attendant, the clicking of the knitting needles, the hilly rise and fall of the old man’s snoring. All movements are ensconced at this ebb and flow of half-tempo, Kasamatsu’s breathing no exception.

In no time, the seat belt sign flashes, and Kasamatsu strains to hear the end of Kise’s sleepy, unintelligible phrases over the preparation for landing announcement.

He bounces his knee. “Get up, sleepyhead.”

Answered with soft protests, Kasamatsu whisks the jacket away. Immediately Kise’s eyes pop wide open, the exaggerated pained look on his face the same as if his covers had been taken away on a Monday morning.

“Did you sleep at all?” Yawning, Kise settles back into his seat.

“Only a little. I’m not the one who needs beauty sleep.”

“That’s ‘cause you’re already beautiful.”

Kasamatsu elbows him. “Shut up and buckle your seat belt.”

When the plane begins its descent, Kise clings to Kasamatsu’s arm.

Suppressing the instinct to shove him off, Kasamatsu tells Kise to calm down. “If all goes well, you’ll be flying more in the future. You’ll have to get used to it.”

“Huh? I’m not scared of landing.”

“Then why do you have to hold on to me?!”

Kise laughs. “You’re pretty slow, senpai.”


End file.
